EMOTIONAL DESIGN OF USER

INTERACTION
WHAT IS EMOTIONAL DESIGN?

 Emotions play a central role in the human ability

to understand and learn about the world.
 Emotional design are used to create products
that deal with appropriate emotions, in order to
create a positive experience for the user.
 Designers consider the connections that can form
between users and the objects they use, and the
emotions that can arise from them.
 LEVELS OF EMOTIONS

 Visceral

 Behavioral

 Reflective
 VISCERAL EMOTIONAL DESIGN

 Visceral emotional design appeals to our first

reactions when we encounter a product. It mainly
deals with aesthetics and the perceived quality
from mere look and feel, and the engagement of
the senses. Here, we examine what inner or “gut”
reactions tell us about an item.
 BEHAVIORAL EMOTIONAL DESIGN

 Behavioral emotional design refers to the

usability of the product, our assessment of how
well it performs the desired functions, and how
easily we can learn how to use it. By this stage,
we will have formed a more justified opinion of
the item
REFLECTIVE EMOTIONAL DESIGN

 Reflective emotional design is concerned with our

ability to project the product’s impact on our lives
after we have used it

Eg., how it makes us feel when not holding it, or

what values we find ourselves attaching to the
product.
 PLUTCHIK’S WHEEL OF EMOTIONS

 Designs which tap into the user’s emotions are

considered to do more than just respond to their
stated needs and provide a greater level of user
experience.

 This will help to provide the better experiences

to users.
PLUTCHIK’S WHEEL OF
EMOTIONS(CONTD)

 The corner stone of emotional design is the idea

that if you can elicit strong emotions in your
users – you can use those emotions to either
create loyalty or to drive a customer to take
action.
PLUTCHIK’S PSYCHO-EVOLUTIONARY
THEORY OF EMOTION

 Robert Plutchik devised the psycho-evolutionary

theory of emotion and this helps categorize
emotions into primary emotions and the
responses to them.

 He argued that the primary emotions are an

evolutionary development and that the response
to each such emotion is the one that is likely to
deliver the highest level of survival possibility.
 Emotions are found at all evolutionary levels of
species. They are equally applicable to all
animals as they are to human beings.
 Emotions evolved differently in different species
and may be expressed differently between those
species.
 The purpose of emotions is an evolutionary
survival response enabling the organism to
survive when confronted by environmental
challenges.
 While emotions can be displayed and evoked
through different mechanisms in different
organisms there are common elements to
emotions that can be identified across all
emotional animals.
 There are 8 basic, primary emotions.
 Other emotions are simply a combination of these
8 basic emotions or are derived from one (or
more) of these basic emotions.
 Primary emotions are “idealized” and their
properties must be inferred from evidence but
cannot be accurately stated in full.
 Each primary emotion is paired with another and
is a polar opposite of that pair.
 Emotions can and do vary in degrees of similarity
to each other.
 Emotions exist in varying degrees of intensity.
 BASIC EMOTIONS
 Anger
 Disgust

 Fear

 Sadness

 Anticipation

 Joy

 Surprise

 Trust
BASIC EMOTIONAL PAIRS

 Joy and Sadness

 Trust and Disgust
 Fear and Anger
 Surprise and Anticipation
EMOTIONS ON PLUTCHIK’S WHEEL
 Anticipation + Joy = Optimism (with its opposite
being disapproval)
 Joy + Trust = Love (with its opposite being remorse)
 Trust + Fear = Submission (with its opposite being
contempt)
 Fear + Surprise = Awe (with its opposite being
aggression)
 Surprise + Sadness = Disapproval (with its opposite
being optimism)
 Sadness + Disgust = Remorse (with its opposite being
love)
 Disgust + Anger = Contempt (with its opposite being
submission)
 Anger + Anticipation = Aggressiveness (with its
opposite being awe)
CRITICISMS OF PLUTCHIK’S MODEL

 The biggest criticism of this model is its failure to

take into account the pairing of Pride and Shame.

For example, gamification efforts may attempt to

tap into a user’s pride through leaderboards or
badges.

 It is generally agreed that the Wheel of Emotion

is a good starting point when considering what
emotions a design may elicit. It does not prevent
the UX designer from looking for additional tools
to aid in emotional design.